File:Mysterious Dark Rays (50651352623).jpg
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[edit]DescriptionMysterious Dark Rays (50651352623).jpg |
Some of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays formed by the clouds’ shadows and the beams of light scattered by the atmosphere. Astronomers studying the nearby galaxy IC 5063 are tantalized by a similar effect in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In this case, a collection of narrow bright rays and dark shadows is seen beaming out of the blazingly bright center of the active galaxy, shooting across at least 36,000 light-years. Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. The black hole is feeding on infalling material, producing a powerful gusher of light from superheated gas near it. Although the researchers have developed several plausible theories for the lightshow, the most intriguing idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole. IC 5063 resides 156 million light-years from Earth. Credits: NASA, ESA, and W.P. Maksym (CfA); CC BY 4.0 |
Date | |
Source | Mysterious Dark Rays |
Author | European Space Agency |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by europeanspaceagency at https://flickr.com/photos/37472264@N04/50651352623. It was reviewed on 3 December 2020 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
3 December 2020
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current | 14:43, 3 December 2020 | 1,541 × 1,389 (1.02 MB) | Eyes Roger (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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Author | Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach |
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Date and time of data generation | 06:00, 23 November 2020 |
Short title | Mysterious Dark Rays |
Credit/Provider | NASA, ESA, and W.P. Maksym (CfA) |
Source | ESA/Hubble |
Image title | Some of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays formed by the clouds’ shadows and the beams of light scattered by the atmosphere. Astronomers studying the nearby galaxy IC 5063 are tantalized by a similar effect in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In this case, a collection of narrow bright rays and dark shadows is seen beaming out of the blazingly bright center of the active galaxy, shooting across at least 36,000 light-years. Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. The black hole is feeding on infalling material, producing a powerful gusher of light from superheated gas near it. Although the researchers have developed several plausible theories for the lightshow, the most intriguing idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole. IC 5063 resides 156 million light-years from Earth. |
Publisher | ESA/Hubble |
Usage terms |
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JPEG file comment | Some of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays formed by the clouds’ shadows and the beams of light scattered by the atmosphere. Astronomers studying the nearby galaxy IC 5063 are tantalized by a similar effect in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In this case, a collection of narrow bright rays and dark shadows is seen beaming out of the blazingly bright center of the active galaxy, shooting across at least 36,000 light-years. Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. The black hole is feeding on infalling material, producing a powerful gusher of light from superheated gas near it. Although the researchers have developed several plausible theories for the lightshow, the most intriguing idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole. IC 5063 resides 156 million light-years from Earth. |
Orientation | Normal |
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop 22.0 (Windows) |
File change date and time | 17:00, 11 November 2020 |
Y and C positioning | Centered |
Exif version | 2.31 |
Date and time of digitizing | 16:39, 15 October 2020 |
Meaning of each component |
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Supported Flashpix version | 1 |
Color space | sRGB |
IIM version | 4 |
Keywords | IC 5063 |
Bits per component |
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Height | 1,389 px |
Width | 1,541 px |
Pixel composition | RGB |
Number of components | 3 |
Contact information | outreach@stsci.edu
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München, None, D-85748 Germany |
Type of media | Observation |
Date metadata was last modified | 18:00, 11 November 2020 |
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:3948dc31-5b36-4c0a-ba39-81992ab56299 |
Copyright status | Copyright status not set |